Estimated Price: £20,000 - £25,000

First launched in June 1970, the original Range Rover with its V8 engine, permanent four-wheel drive and coil springs was regarded as revolutionary. Public demand outstripped all expectations. It was gradually developed from the original two-door model with the four-door model being introduced in 1972, significant improvements made in the mid-1980s and, later in that decade, the progressive introduction of electronics.

Designed by Spencer King, the original 1970 Range Rover was a masterstroke of understated elegance; it became the first vehicle to successfully transit the notorious ‘Darien Gap’ and is said to be the only vehicle to have been exhibited in the Louvre as a work of art. The ‘Classic’, as it was to become known, remained in production for 26 years (with sales overlapping with the later ‘P38’ model introduced in 1994).

By the early 1980s, the Range Rover’s appeal drew a new demographic of buyer who wanted the space, driving position and occasional off-road capability but with the interior comforts and ride quality of a luxury saloon car. Built on a box-section ladder-type chassis, much like the contemporary Land Rover, the Range Rover had more sophisticated all-independent coil spring suspension, permanent four-wheel drive, disc brakes all round, and was powered by Rover’s lightweight all-alloy 3.5-litre V8 engine, detuned to 135bhp. The ultimate off-road/on-road vehicle, its clever suspension managed to combine a 3-tonne towing ability, a huge range of articulation off-road, and limousine comfort on A and B roads.

Often referred to as the ‘hard-dash’ in reference to the passenger grab-handle and to differentiate from the later ‘soft-dash’ models launched in the mid-1990s. For those in the know, it is the hard-dash Range Rovers that prove the most robust and therefore have the greater appeal. With coil-sprung suspension and few electronic aids these earlier cars proved less troublesome compared to later models with air suspension and potential for electrical gremlins.

The car presented here is a 1988 Range Rover 3.5-litre EFi, with the rarer/more desirable manual gearbox, further subtly enhanced by London’s Wood & Pickett, established some 20 years earlier by former Hooper coachworks craftsmen Bill Wood and Les Pickett. W&P initially made a name for itself by adding luxurious and expensive upgrades to Minis, work that initially attracted the attention of celebrities such as Mick Jagger, Peter Sellers, and later that of the Middle East’s super-wealthy oil sheiks.

Soon, W&P was doing a roaring trade in Range Rover upgrades, making the most of the cars’ design and separate chassis to create bespoke examples, including stretched, six-wheeler and convertible versions, sometimes under the W&P branding ‘The Sheer’ (Range Rover) – often to questionable levels of taste and opulence.

This Range Rover is altogether a more discreet W&P recipient, in British Racing Green paint, a full green Connolly leather hide interior, and featuring original and distinctive 15-inch Wolface alloy wheels, a period quad-lamp front grille, W&P-crafted headliner, quad rear / roof pod speakers, period telephone handset, and a drinks cabinet in the boot. All present is a reissued cult/retro-styled (but modern) Blaupunkt Bremen radio head-unit (with Bluetooth connectivity etc.).

On offer from a prominent Land Rover/Range Rover Collection, belonging to a marque authority, it was fully recommissioned in 2024, after 12 years in professional storage. It now utilises the later/superior 3.9-litre (Lucas 14CUX Hotwire) injection system and has had new brakes (pads & calipers) fitted all-round. As part of this overhaul, the original odometer was stuck (a common issue) at c100,000 miles, so a replacement was installed, showing 68,000 miles (original odometer unit will accompany the car). It has obviously been pampered all its life, evident from its inherent condition, plus no evidence of it ever having a tow-bar fitted. With its original handbooks also present, we understand that this stylish Range Rover is running and driving well and would make a worthy addition to any discerning enthusiast's stable.